Engineering Insights

We’ve all watched SaaS valuations take a beating over the past few months. Lately, it feels like every time Claude rolls out a new feature, SaaS stocks drop another few percentage points. But here’s how I interpret what’s actually going on.

Model Context Protocol has had a remarkable run. In under a year, it became the default way to wire AI agents to external tools — databases, APIs, file systems, cloud services, crypto wallets. Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code, and most serious AI coding environments now ship with MCP support out of the box. The ecosystem is growing fast.

Which makes the next part worth paying attention to.

AI agents aren't experimental anymore. They write code, run shell commands, call external APIs, and orchestrate complex workflows — usually with the same OS privileges as the developer who launched them. That convenience is real. So is the risk.

I graduated in 2007. Computer science undergrad, then a master's, then a PhD in computer engineering. I've spent nearly two decades in this industry — as an engineer, as a manager, as someone who got away from the keyboard more than I wanted to during those management years, and as someone who's come back to it with a vengeance.